ldslesson

One intersting thing about the scriptures is that they cover a period of time of about 6000 years. Different sermons were given to different groups of people and for different reasons. Sometimes teaching on the Plan was designed to inspire to greater spirituality and other times it was designed to condemn sin. As a people I think we are often motivated by fear, so that is often used. It is more difficult to live righteously sometimes if you are thinking about how everything can be forgiven than if you are thinking about punishment. Might just be me, but I think it is a human condition. I do think there will be much more mercy than what we think. And more love than what maybe we understand or expect.

It is funny because there are always multiple ways to see something. Those with faith see this is as a faith promoting situation because you can see that the doctrine tht Christ teaches is the same everywhere and of course he would tell different groups of people the same thing. Those without faith would say that Joseph was simply copying. I still don't know how you explain the other hundreds of pages of the Book of Mormon. As Ezra Taft Benson said, "We do not have to prove the Book of Mormon is true. The book is its own proof. All we need to do is read it and declare it! The Book of Mormon is not on trial—the people of the world, including the members of the Church, are on trial as to what they will do with this second witness for Christ." Dr. T, you and I are on trial as to what we will do with the word of Christ. The Book of Mormon is the word of God. I hope I pass the trial, and I hope you will too.

I thought a great quote in that lesson was, "Men who have no principle of righteousness in themselves, and whose hearts are full of iniquity, and have no desire for the principles of truth, do not understand the word of truth when they hear it. The devil taketh away the word of truth out of their hearts, because there is no desire for righteousness in them." One interesting question is how we show that we have a "desire for the principles of truth." How often do we spend time desireing truth. Do we spend time gaining it the way Joseph did and then living it the way Joseph did? What are our true desires? Desire is shown by how we spend our time, so what do we desire? That is a good indicator of what our soil is.

From what I have seen, you may be better off without a manual. Sometimes teachers get too dependent on a manual. Some of the lessons are ok, but sometimes the manual lessons can be a little lacking in good application and good questions. You may check out online resources to see if you can get any ideas, and I am sure you will come up with great ideas as well

CJ, Good luck with the seminary thing. I taught for 5 years and it was great! Now I do a website with some lesson plans. The link is my signature at the bottom. One talk that I love to use on this is from Elder M. Russell Ballard. He taught, "I feel that judgment for sin is not always as cut-and-dried as some of us seem to think. The Lord said, “Thou shalt not kill.” Does that mean that every person who kills will be condemned, no matter the circumstances? I feel the Lord recognized differences in intent and circumstances: Was the person who took his life mentally ill? Was he or she so deeply depressed as to be unbalanced or otherwise emotionally disturbed? Was the suicide a tragic, pitiful call for help that went unheeded too long or progressed faster than the victim intended? Did he or she somehow not understand the seriousness of the act? Was he or she suffering from a chemical imbalance in their system that led to despair and a loss of self-control? Obviously, we do not know the full circumstances surrounding every suicide. Only the Lord knows all the details, and he it is who will judge our actions here on earth. When he does judge us, I feel he will take all things into consideration: our genetic and chemical makeup, our mental state, our intellectual capacity, the teachings we have received, the traditions of our fathers, our health, and so forth." So, I think the best bet is to leave that final judgment to the Final Judge. As far as earthly judging, a great talk is from Elder Dallin H Oaks. His comment: "We must, of course, make judgments every day in the exercise of our moral agency, but we must be careful that our judgments of people are intermediate and not final. Thus, our Savior’s teachings contain many commandments we cannot keep without making intermediate judgments of people: “Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine” (Matt. 7:6); “Beware of false prophets. … Ye shall know them by their fruits” (Matt. 7:15–16); and “Go ye out from among the wicked” (D&C 38:42). We all make judgments in choosing our friends, in choosing how we will spend our time and our money, and, of course, in choosing an eternal companion. Some of these intermediate judgments are surely among those the Savior referenced when He taught that “the weightier matters of the law” include judgment (Matt. 23:23). The scriptures not only command or contemplate that we will make intermediate judgments but also give us some guidance—some governing principles—on how to do so." So there is a big distinction there! Sounds like you have found out what that is.

I guess I can't speak for all people, but my experience is that your patriarchal blessing doesn't specify adoption or not. In the grand scheme of things, I don't think it really matters. There are specific duties that some tribes have, but there will be people of all tribes in the Celestial Kingdom. From the scriptures we see a variety of tribes represented as being righteous.

Alma 46 says, 39 And it came to pass that there were many who died, firmly believing that their souls were redeemed by the Lord Jesus Christ; thus they went out of the world rejoicing. 40 And there were some who died with fevers, which at some seasons of the year were very frequent in the land—but not so much so with fevers, because of the excellent qualities of the many plants and roots which God had prepared to remove the cause of diseases, to which men were subject by the nature of the climate— 41 But there were many who died with old age; and those who died in the faith of Christ are happy in him, as we must needs suppose. Sounds like they were pretty happy. I guess the separation is somewhat difficult. My mom cried a lot when I left for 2 years or when we leave after coming to visit! knowledge of the plan of salvation does help a lot though.

I think the big question would be about the apostles. If you go to Search - LDS Newsroom. This links to the background info for Boyd K. Packer. If you then enter into the search box you can search each apostle and get the info for each of them. The result will be that none of them have ever been divorced. Some have remarried. Hope that helps answer the question.

I teach the Teachers Quorum in my ward and we got kicked out of our room by the Primary (we were ok with that) and are asked to meet in the back of the gym or in the kitchen! The boys voted for the kitchen!

If you look at the other people in the dream, there isn't much option. It is either hold to the rod, or be lost and drowning. You could end up in a big building that will eventually cumble and crush you. So there are difficulties in every part of the process, but only one part of the dream includes the promise, But learn that he who doeth the works of righteousness shall receive his reward, even peace in this world, and eternal life in the world to come. D&C 59:23 It doesn't get any better than that! The Gospel provides the peace. No other path offers that.

This is my first day on the forum, and I have really enjoyed it! Two quick thoughts on this. Mosiah 2:36 36 And now, I say unto you, my brethren, that after ye have known and have been taught all these things, if ye should transgress and go contrary to that which has been spoken, that ye do withdraw yourselves from the Spirit of the Lord, that it may have no place in you to guide you in wisdom’s paths that ye may be blessed, prospered, and preserved— This scripture mentions that we withdraw ourselves from the Spirit. So the question might be that we need to figure out how to keep ourselves with the Spirit. By studying the gospel we come to find out where the Spirit is, and where it is not. Then we just keep ourselves in that place. Others have mentioned the sacrament prayer. The key word here is "willing." The fact that you want it really bad is a good indication that you are well on your way. God will always give us that blessing as long as we are willing to have it in our lives. I find that wanting the Spirit even more is an indication that I am trying to live up to my covenants. Remember even Nephi said, "Nevertheless, notwithstanding the great goodness of the Lord, in showing me his great and marvelous works, my heart exclaimeth: O wretched man that I am! Yea, my heart csorroweth because of my flesh; my soul grieveth because of mine iniquities." 2 Nephi 4:17. So as we continue to try to stay where the Spirit is, God will fulfill his promise.

My thoughts on this is the principle of witnesses. In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established. 2 Cor 13:1. If eating meat were a huge issue, the prophets would be spending much more time on it. I can't think of a single time that this issue has been discussed in General Conference. I could be wrong on that, but not in my memory. I think that gives some perspective on how high it ought to rank. Faith, charity, temple attendance, etc. these are talked about all the time--pretty important! How much meat? Maybe less important, so just keep it moderate.